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baizerker's Altered Beast (GEN)

[January 24, 2008 07:27:25 AM]

Game Play

I recently returned to Altered Beast to refresh my mind for another entry, to see if my opinions had changed. I must admit, with the addition of my friends, I had a lot more fun with the co-op mode offered from the game. Strangely enough, the game doesn't actually increase in difficulty with the addition of another player; there are exactly the same amount of monsters and bosses.

Like I said in my earlier entry, the game is cheesy. The story is cliche (rescue the princess!), the graphics are primitive (its on the genesis), and the controls are simple (move, duck, jump, punch, kick). Come to think of it, a blocking move would help a lot, and add a little more strategic thinking to the game, rather than the current formula, which is spamming punch/kick until your thumbs hurt. Why do I keep playing it then? I would say that my friends and I are drawn more to it by its cheesiness (is that a word?). We smile slyly as Zeus commands us to "rise from your grave." We're captivated by the speech proceeding all boss battles ("Welcome to your doom!") We grin after completing each level, when a giant evil head cackles and steals our power ups. It's not the game play that had us playing this game over and over, but its silliness. And I had fun. Isn't that the point of a video game anyway?

Design

Another game play feature I hadn't gone into earlier were the boss battles. They're terrible! The bosses appear at the end of each level as a significantly larger, unique looking monster. Each must be destroyed using the special moves available in beast form. Since the boss only appears after all players have achieved beast form anyway, this is not a problem. Furthermore, in beast form, you only have two different moves (since the genesis only has an 'A' and 'B' button), so it takes only a few seconds to realize which of the two moves works best. You then repeat that move rapidly and the boss dies. Easy. To make matters worse, all the bosses are defeated like this. The last boss of the game, a giant rhino monster, is poorly programmed; if a player holds the 'down' button, making the avatar duck, then the boss is unable to harm the player at all! From the ducking position, the player can just shoot fireballs using 'A' over and over until the boss dies. How very anti-climactic for this epic five level game!

Something else the game was lacking was length. With only five levels, I've come to beat the entire game now in around ten to fifteen minutes. This is WAY too short. True, the game does offer an increased difficulty replay after beating the game, but I'd rather see more content than just repeat the same levels with increased difficulty. I would love to see around ten more levels, complete with new backgrounds, bosses, and music. It would add a lot to the game.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, the basic pattern for the game (with the exception of the boss battles) is to just mash 'A' and 'B' for punch and kick. Monster approaches. Punch punch punch punch. Monster dies. After a few minutes of this, my thumbs are tired. Instead of this simple combat pattern I'd like to see a less mindless, strategic one. Adding a block move for example, or even adding combos, or throws would enrich the actualy play. Different weapons to pick up would be a lot of fun too, but maybe that's asking for a bit too much. But with a few minor changes and additions I think people would enjoy the monster killing grunt work of the game way more.

Well, with the completion of this game for the billionth time, I think I've had enough. This game isn't innovative, the game play is very simple, the boss battles are too easy, and there are only five levels, but the attraction to Altered Beast isn't in any of those elements. Altered Beast is a cheesy, crappy game that I enjoy on a casual evening, hanging out with my friends. We're not too serious with it, and we have a lot of fun.

This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 24th, 2008 at 07:29:48.

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[January 13, 2008 11:18:35 PM]

In the Sega Genesis game "Altered Beast" (another botched translation to English from Japanese) you find yourself in ancient Greece, summoned from your grave by Zeus himself to rescue his kidnapped daughter, Athena. You must defeat hordes of monsters, zombies, ogres, and even spear wielding anthropomorphic animal demons straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting to do so. Thankfully, you are no ordinary human. With the collection of power ups, you increase in size and strength until you transform into your devastating "beast form," which depending on the game level, can be a wolf, dragon, bear, or tiger.
The game follows a standard side scrolling formula. Various monsters approach you, and as you kill them, you progress to the right. Special two-headed blue wolves drop power ups after death, which must be collected until you transform into your beast form. Only after this may the level boss appear. After the boss is defeated, your power ups are taken and you begin the next level. Repeat!
The controls are simple enough to grasp. In addition to moving left or right, you can punch, kick, and jump! Beast form unlocks new powers, which replace punch and kick, such as the ability to shoot fireballs when in wolf form (why? who knows?) or the power to electricate nearby foes in dragon form.
The gameplay varies so little that it quickly becomes tedious. Every level is essentially the same, the only differences being cosmetic (woa, now the walls are GREEN!). The player also only gets three lives for the duration of the game (all 5 levels), with no way to heal or save, making the game almost impossible to complete.
The game does offer co-op mode with two players however, which adds to its enjoyability greatly. Alone I would quickly tire of the game, but with an ally I find myself much more drawn in and involved.
The game also has great music, with eerie, medieval sounding organs that get stuck in your head for weeks.
In terms of game play, Altered Beast is nothing special, in fact, it's rather boring. But with the addition of co-op, its eerie soundtrack, and its dark art and style, Altered Beast becomes almost... cool. Well, in a cheesy way.